The NTC would let Bruce reject deals to the Yankees, Red Sox, Athletics, Rays, Marlins, Twins, Indians and Diamondbacks. Jon Heyman of todaysknuckleball.com repored earlier today that Bruce would quite likely be willing to go to Cleveland, and it appears that he’d also be amenable to other hypothetical landing spots. Rumblings have connected Bruce to a variety of clubs, including the Dodgers, Giants, White Sox, and Royals since the start of the season.

Bruce, 29, tells Sheldon that he’s willing to “consider waiving the no-trade clause for all types of reasons,” with “no blanket reason I wouldn’t.” The veteran said he’d need to take each situation as it comes, with agent Matt Sosnick saying that such a choice has yet to be brought to their attention.

Bruce continued on to emphasize that he’d be quite interested in an opportunity to join an organization that has designs on contending. “If I am moved, which has seemed likely for the last year and a half, I’d like to go where the team is mostly likely to win,” he said. “Teams that want me are likely seeking somebody to help them win.”

Notably, Sosnick suggested that Bruce won’t necessarily be looking to utilize the clause for leverage with regard to his contract. “We’re not setting in stone any financial qualifiers,” he said. “If the deal is good for Jay and good for the Reds, he would consider anything — including waiving the no-trade. … There is no team that he would unequivocally not go to.”

Bruce has increasingly cemented his status as a premium trade piece, as he is once again hitting like the All-Star-caliber player he was from 2011 through 2013. The two intervening seasons are easier and easier to forget, as he carries a .279/.325/.568 slash with 17 home runs and a league-leading six triples into July. Bruce’s early-career extension is another asset: he’s earning $12.5MM this year and can be controlled for $13MM in 2017, which is particularly appealing with a dearth of young sluggers on the upcoming free agent market.

The reds most certainly were not the best nl team four years ago, granted they had a better record than the world series winners (Giants) the Nats had a better record than reds and their division was extremely week astros cubs pirates and brewers so they had the easier schedule and lost in first round of playoffs.

No way the giants would give up a top caliber arm at this point. I love seeing blockbuster deals, but I doubt the Reds want to take on that salary and I doubt the Giants want to move one their best pitchers at this time.

The Royals already traded 3 pitchers (Reed, Finnegan, Lamb) to the Reds for Cueto, making up some of the Reds’ current surplus of starting pitching prospects. I’m skeptical that they match up again for another trade, the Reds now need hitters and seemingly got most of what they wanted out of the Royals’ system.

The Reds have always been hesitant to deal with Cleveland. The owner doesn’t want a “Reds player” selling tickets for the other Ohio team. I laughed hard when he said that for many reasons. The biggest reason is that Cleveland has the lowest attendance in the league (which is just stupid because they have a really good team).

Reading this article just made me lose even more respect for Brandon Phillips and I didn’t think that was possible. Phillips reportedly rejected at least two trades in the offseason. One was apparently to the Nationals where he would have not only played for a contender but would also have been reunited with Dusty Baker. Reading the comments from Bruce’s agent just made more convinced that the Reds should just DFA and cut the egotistical and underperforming Phillips and play Peraza at second base the rest of the year. THAT would be a positive message to send to fans: “We aren’t going to let this clown slow down our rebuild”.

So, to find a match look to teams that have hitting prospects to trade. Particularly outfield prospects. Probably not 1b (Votto), 3b (Senzel). Peraza (SS/2b/CF) and Hamilton (CF) remain in the picture, and won’t be replaced by worse players.

Bradley Zimmer or Clint Frazier would be steals in return for Bruce, but I doubt they’d move either in such a deal and there’s little else in the Indians’ farm system that really seems to fit the Reds’ needs. Here’s hoping that Bradley Zimmer’s low batting average this season has sufficiently lowered his value for him to be traded to the Reds.

Id say the White Sox need him, but where to play him? Eaton has been awesome in RF. As for having pieces to trade…the Sox really need more than one player here (arguably need a manager that knows what he is doing as well) so trading the farm for 1 guy seems a bit nuts at this point.